"Nicodemus and us: Lurkers, one and all" - Sermon for 2nd Sunday in Lent 3-1-26

Would Nicodemus follow Jesus on social media? Some of Nicodemus’s peers would, if only to troll Jesus and respond to his posts with angry emojis, the way some people today follow public figures, not out of admiration, but to see what madness they are up to and to make cutting comments.

I think Nicodemus would follow Jesus, but as a lurker, someone who looks at Jesus’s feed but doesn’t engage with it. He wouldn’t give a thumbs-up for fear of being ridiculed or un-friended by his own crowd. And he couldn’t join in the public scathing, because there is something about Jesus that sparks a hopeful curiosity. Better to keep quiet. Maybe send Jesus a private message.

Nicodemus visits Jesus by night in Chapter 3 of St. John’s gospel. In Chapter 7, he offers a tepid defense of Jesus and is rebuked by his peers in the Sanhedrin. And in Chapter 19, Nicodemus brings costly spices to help Joseph of Arimathea, a fearful secret disciple, bury Jesus’s dead body in a garden tomb.

Whatever becomes of Nicodemus? Scripture says no more about him. The thinnest thread of tradition says he became a Christian and died a martyr, which, if true, would be a satisfying end to his story. But it is just as likely that he keeps his head down, holding on to some guilt for not going all-in with Jesus, while holding on to his status in his community.

There is a bit of Nicodemus in each of us. Some days we are just too tired to engage, too afraid to do anything but lurk. All we can do is to keep our heads down and hold on.

Jesus engages with his open opponents all the time. It seems he rather enjoys the verbal sparring. But a good thing about Jesus is that he sits down with lurkers like Nicodemus, too. Jesus meets people like Nicodemus – people like us – where we are, no matter how timid and halting and cautious we might be. Nicodemus is a model for enquiry, whether we are on the first day or the hundredth year of our faith journey.

Nicodemus is curious; he wants to know more about this Jesus.

Nicodemus has courage; he summons the resolve to find and sit with Jesus, even if in secret.

Nicodemus is humble; himself of a high-status, he takes the lower place, calling Jesus rabbi and teacher and one who has come from God.

Nicodemus ventures a vulnerable question; he asks that he might gain understanding.

Nicodemus listens; he ponders Jesus’s teaching in his heart.

And Nicodemus accepts the grace of conversion of life; he begins to look at God, the world around him, and his own heart differently than he did before.

Jesus meets Nicodemus where he is and sees something good to work with. Jesus does this with everyone he meets, in person and in the Spirit. Nicodemus is a theologian. Peter, Andrew, James, and John are fishermen. Matthew and Zacchaeus work for the government. Lydia is a merchant. Luke works in healthcare and is a writer on the side. Paul makes tents. Some are sex-workers, others are beggars, still others labor to get by in a hard economy.

These first disciples sound just like you and me, don’t they?

Where are you lurking this Lent?

Where in the nighttime chamber of your heart do you need Jesus to sit with you?

Be curious, my fellow lurkers. Be courageous and humble and vulnerable. Listen to Jesus and accept his life-changing grace.

And even if you stay tepid and timid, or fear that you are not worthy of Jesus or haven’t gone far enough with him, trust that Jesus knows you better than you know yourself, and that he sees something good in you to work with.

Where are you lurking this Lent? Send Jesus a private message, set a time and a place to meet him, and go.

Father Daniel S.J. Scheid, SCP

2^nd Sunday in Lent A – March 1, 2026

All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Francisco

“Nicodemus and us: Lurkers, one and all"